Glacial Sugar
by Geuse
Summary: In the snowscape of Atlas Academy, Weiss finds beauty and intricacy; in the art of snowball handicraft. Jaune finds... Weiss.


**/****/ - **Another story, unexpectedly to myself. Image cover is an arctic fox; I honestly had nothing else.

* * *

The snow, in its softer and powdery form was seemingly harmless. It was like a glacial sugar; it rolled through her fingers and tingled them cold, decorating the dips in her pale plams with dicey glitter and an array of dim sparkle.

Physics was a quirked thing, and when Weiss gathered the snow within both palms and crushed it between, it ground together and formed somewhat of a ball. It was obviously no definite snowball, its surface still peaked and ducked with the points where the gaps between her fingers had been, and the structure itself was stretched out more as an oval. So, after a few curls and polishes, Weiss had managed to carve it into something that could be safely interpreted as a snowball.

Snow was nothing special to Weiss. It was Mantle and Atlas's equivalent for rain, and so often fell that she could remember counting the falling snowflakes outside her bedroom window as a pass time in her childhood. What was special, however, were the nuisances scattered in the courtyard that threw snowballs and built snowthings.

"Yang!" A faunus girl screamed in the distance. "Yang, I'll kill you!" The array of screams of 'Yang' and 'No' only accelerated, until an endpoint of a howling screech sounded the inevitable, followed by a breathless cackle.

Weiss was situated under a whitened tree, sheltering from the cruel whirlwind of scarce, slow-falling snowflakes, only her feet, which exceeded the trees' cover, taking the gentle brunt. She was amassing an arsenal of near-perfect snowballs, a therapeutic dance with the snow she'd come to love as a child. Shovel, gather, crush, polish. And repeat.

Her friends had taken to petty wars and acts of cruelty, Weiss was benevolent in her behaviour, and would the final one standing once the dust - snow - had settled.

A crushing and sloshing of snow sounded to her right, and a pair of blue trousers and buckled, dark brown boots entered the corner of her eye. "Hey, Weiss." A sniffled voice sounded.

She looked up. "Hello." The Arc's face was a pretty pink, the bridge of his nose highlighted in bright red. That haircut of his dashed with white. Was he blushing? Was it her?

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "What happened..." She gestured toward her own face.

Jaune's eyes flashed in realisation and laughed. "Oh, Nora hit me square in the face with a snowball." Nevermind. "Um, you think I could borrow one of those? I need to get the element of surprise." He glanced at her collection.

Weiss frowned. "No, they are pieces of art, not weapons of war, Jaune." She shoveled some snow into her hand to make another. "Get your own."

Once she had shoveled it, she gathered the main mass in her hands and shook them to discard the excess. She secured the snow in her hands and pressed down firmly yet gently to crush it together, flipped the structure round, and pressed down again. Then, she took her palm and...

"Are you watching me?"

Jaune was struck from his spectating stupor, scratching the back of his head. "Uh, yeah. Thought I could learn your technique - they seem pretty well done."

She shifted in her place. If he watched her, she'd grow nervous and probably ruin the snowball. "Leave me be, Jaune. You're distracting me."

Jaune slumped, now opting to beg for help. "Please, just one, then I'll remember it from there."

Weiss pondered for a moment. It was clear the idiot didn't intend on going anywhere, and she guessed having some company for just a moment to enjoy the snow with wouldn't hurt.

"Okay." She nodded, moving along the tree to make room. "Just one." She smiled, throwing her now ruined snowball, which she had been fidgeting with in her hands as she thought, laxly at Jaune in jest.

"Thanks."

* * *

"No... No, you're folding it, like a pancake. Just roll it, _then _crush"

The blonde made a noise of contemplation and nodded, rolling it carefully, waiting, then making sure to crush it. Though, instead of being gentle, he instead opted to decimate it.

Weiss thinned her lips to contain her frustration. "Okay, well not so forceful, just be more-"

"Okay, okay. I think I've got it this time. This is the hardest part."

She narrowed her eyes. "You are yet to polish it, Jaune."

He waved a hand in dismissal. "Like I said, _this_ is the hardest part." He shoveled some snow into his hand, and Weiss watched his handicraft unfold again.

Jaune shifted in his place, a look of discomfort washing his face. "My butt's getting cold."

Weiss frowned and looked away in embarrassment. "Just do the snowball."

Jaune nodded and took the mass, regardless of excess, and ground it down together. He then rolled it round slowly between his hands, and once he had found the appropriate position, ground it down again. To Weiss' surprise, the structure held, and Jaune uncovered it from his palms.

A look of admiration washed her face in wake of his success. "Okay, well now-"

"That's great, thanks Weiss." In his eagerness to rejoin the fight, Jaune stood up and snook the snowball into his pocket.

"Don't you want to know how to polish it?"

He glanced at her and shook his head. "No need, I'm just going to launch it at Nora anyway." He shrugged. "Doesn't need to look pretty."

Weiss paused for a moment, a small pit of disappointment opening in her chest. She nodded, accepting that making snowballs probably wasn't enough to occupy the boy for long. "Of course." She shifted back along the tree and shoveled snow into her hand once more. "Have fun."

Her hands didn't move to craft a new snowball, however, as the glimpse of buckled, dark brown boots in the corner of her eye remained. In their waiting for one of them to speak up, they both remained silent for an inscrutable length of time.

"So-"

"Are-"

In their clash, Weiss grimaced and looked ahead. Jaune coughed, then tried again.

"You, uh, could come play for a bit. If you want." He offered.

She nodded. "Oh, I would, if I wasn't wearing heeled boots, a dress, and if my hair wasn't..." She gestured toward the long, elaborate curl of white lock that lay across her side.

The Arc boy's eyes widened. "Right, yeah. Makes sense." He shuffled his feet as he fidgeted.

She glanced at the boy, whose cheeks were now as red as his nose. "So?"

He puffed his lips out in thought. This just felt like Beacon, and the familiar fire of flusteredness in his stomach returned, the cool drops of snow doing nothing to help. She was humiliating him. "See you... later." He went to try finger guns, but immediately retreated them into his pockets before he did so.

She nodded, staring through him with those ice-blues. "Yes. Hopefully." She glanced down, noticing a growing dark patch on the side of his trousers as she tightened her lips to contain a laugh. "Your snowball is... melting. You should hurry up."

Jaune's eyes flashed in worry, his hands shooting out of his pockets as he looked down to assess the damage. "Right! Yeah, gotta go!" He turned around and jogged back over to his team's spot of war.

Weiss watched him go, his Arc frame falling into the distance. Before he could remove the snowball from his pocket and enact his revenge, Nora pounced out from behind a tree, and stuffed - what Weiss presumed was a fresh handful of snow - down the back of his hoodie. With the girlish screech of cold pain from Jaune, Weiss returned to her handicraft with a reminiscient smile.

Snow was something special to Weiss.

* * *


End file.
